Realms of Arkania - HD Remake Announced!

January 28th, 2013, 15:55

Thanks to Kordanor for letting us know that a HD remake of the Dark EyeNorthland Trilogy is in the works. The three games were released internationally under the name Realms of Arkania … Blade of Destiny, Star Trail and Shadows over Riva. Especially the middle part is widely regarded one of the best RPGs of all time.
The project is a cooperation between original developer Attic, publisher UIG and the Austrian developer Crafty Games.
At the moment the German and English PRs contradict each other. It remains unclear whether the game slated for a release in Q2/13 is the full trilogy or only the first game, Blade of Destiny HD. Here's the full English PR:

A legend reborn as Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny returns
2013-01-28 10:47Developed by Austrian developer Crafty Games, Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny is a one-to-one remake of the 1992 original, adored by a generation of Role Players and one of the most successful German RPG’s of the 1990’s. Get ready to return to Thorwal, one of the oldest cities of Aventurien. Make sure your wits are sharpened before walking down the small alleys of Thorwal and Prem, and prepare to stop the Orcisch threat while creating a mighty alliance between nations. Featuring a complete visual reimagining along with a comprehensive overhaul of every aspect of the gameplay, Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny is set to captivate a 21st century audience of new and old fans alike.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Ivan Ertlov who works on the project comments via Facebook on the GameStar news:
That the complexity and the ruleset itself stays the same, but that they are thinking about changing the random factor which the old Game System had (like D&D there were several iterations of the DSA Rule System and the old one used to work with lots of dice rolls, while the new one found in Drakensang has a fixed amount of points needed for a skill increase).
However he also states that for now this is speculation and not set in stone yet.

The german press statement says that besides of the graphics there are writers and developers are working on it (which might mean that additional content is added or that existing content is changed with their help)

The english statement says "a complete overhaul of every aspect" which doesn't really contradict that. Though both statements aren't precise in what they are actually doing. And the only things which "stay" absolutely the same are the Charme and Complexity which is quite abstract.

About the Release Date: The German statement says that there was a contract made for the whole trilogy. And that "it will start" in Q2 2013.
The English statement does not contradict that but only makes statements about the first part of the trilogy which will be released in Q2 2013 (with the last part only visible in the summary of the statement but not in the statement itself).
The News on GameStar.de also reads that the first part of the Trilogy will be released Q2 2013.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
Is this game related to Gothic 4 Arkania?

Why should it be? Gothic 4 is spelled "Arcania" with a "C". The "Arkania" name is just a random thing that SirTech pulled. The German name is "Das Schwarze Auge" (The Dark Eye) and the continent is called "Aventurien".

— blackcanopus:

Steam is out of question. It's not convenient, it's not easy to use, it's not simple and fast. It's terrible.

Stunning news! Those games were awesome. Coincidentally, I was just thinking of playing them again, although old games don't tend to work too well on modern hardware…

The screenshot looks great - hope they don't try and turn it into an action RPG or adventure hybrid (like Drakensang). Really, its just too good to be true - something is bound to go wrong, it will either never get released or suck in some way.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
…but that they are thinking about changing the random factor which the old Game System had (like D&D there were several iterations of the DSA Rule System and the old one used to work with lots of dice rolls, while the new one found in Drakensang has a fixed amount of points needed for a skill increase).
However he also states that for now this is speculation and not set in stone yet.

That's one thing I think they should change - if I remember rightly you were given on levelling up a certain number of tries and these might randomly fail depending to some extent on your level in the skill you are trying to increase. Of course this was just an opportunity for everyone to save and restore the game until they got a decent success ratio.

Originally Posted by Roq
That's one thing I think they should change - if I remember rightly you were given on levelling up a certain number of tries and these might randomly fail depending to some extent on your level in the skill you are trying to increase. Of course this was just an opportunity for everyone to save and restore the game until they got a decent success ratio.

Yep…and I have to admit I did this extensively. Same goes for the Hitpoints. Wasn't a rare case that your warrior gained less hp than your mage as it was a random d6 roll.

If there is one thing I don't miss about old games in general it's these random HP and skillgains. (same goes for rolling a Character at startup).
And my wish for games in the future: Make it retroactive!

Hey, if it works on new systems, I'll be first in line to buy it. I don't think publishers realize how much people would actually pay for old games, assuming the games were optomized for newer computers.